The Capsule Inn - Japan. A small look at a tiny hotel!

The Capsule Inn in Japan is a hotel, if you can call it that.  In a nutshell The Capsule Inn are tiny little "pods" where guests can check in and grab a wink.   In their words their hotel is, "inspired by the pursuit of efficiency of space and functional comfort, originating from the adaptive, creative spirit of the Japanese mind."  I call it tiny little pods that cram their guests into a "room" in a country where space is at a very high premium.

There are 5 or 6 places in Japan where these pods exist and they seem to be booked at a high occupancy rate.  They work like this.  First off, there's a community room where everyone can shower, eat and socialize.  Some of the hotels have pools and most have lockers where guests can store away their goods saving their pod space for themselves. 

Then they have the little pods that you sleep in...   

(Pods cost around $25 to $50 per night depending on the city)

The actual sleeping rooms are capsule units made of reinforced plastic and designed in the image of a jet airplane's cockpit.  In the capsule unit, all the required amenities are provided - TV, radio, alarm clock, adjustable lighting.   Every device is within your reach and you can control everything in a sleeping position.

(the pods do have curtains for privacy and are not for the claustrophobic)

The only things you can't do in the pods?   Smoke, eat and...well, please yourself or others.   Most of the guests tend to be men, and a lot of those men rent by the month.  Unemployment and being in the "doghouse" make up a lot of the guests that stay.

So if you're in Japan and down to live in a pod, check them out at www.capsuleinn.com.  Myself, I think I'd rather book Tokyo Hilton or something...